Comfort Inn San Miguel

So, our epic, multi-stage journey couldn't be completed in one day, despite all our connections being pretty much instantaneous. Even if we had gotten up at 7 as we planned and not at 8.30 as it panned out, we still couldn't have made it to San Salvador on account of the Salvadorian bus schedule - good thing we had a lye-in, then! Still though, we ...

... Needless to say, they didn’t know what to do so they just let us go. I laughed for a good five minutes over that one!

We passed through two more checkpoints with decent cops. All of them 
just asking where we were going and checking our paperwork. They all 
asked if we were going to Costa Rica. It’s as if they forgot (or 
didn’t know) that Nicaragua was on their Southern boarder...

The last checkpoint was the ...

... coffee and watching what I remember was a really important football game (something like the premier champion´s league something-something... Manchester and Chelsea, I think). Good memories in Berlin. Alegria was okay. Beautiful town way up in the mountains, but kind of unremarkable besides that. Definitely the coolest part was taking a walk up to a lagoon on the mountain; not the lagoon itself, but the quiet, stunning walk through coffee fields on ...

... bottle. We had read that there was a nice park with gardens and pools and that you could rent bungalows for the day. With the heat draining us this sounded like a pretty good idea. We caught our 5th bus for the day (it had been quite a trip from El Zonte) and headed on the short ride to the "relaxation" that awaited. What we saw when we got the looked more like Christmas day at the public pools ...

... get any more stamps in my passport till I leave the Central America Free Trade Agreement zone (Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala). I didn't even see any immigration people on the Honduras El Salvador border (but that might be my fault, I'll find out at the next border). I think I left a bit of my heart in Nicaragua, it was mighty good.

... truck, the owner of the car strongly refused to take the money I offered as thanks. He told me he would come back down to San Ignacio around 2 pm and would be happy to give me a ride back if I needed to, which I did indeed. He pointed me in the right direction and off I went to reach the top of El Pital, up, up and up again for about an hour and a half. I kept wondering why the Lonely Planet did not mention how difficult the hike was for it ...

... forest which always helps cool things down. Sometimes the trees are so large on either side of the road their branches literally create tunnels for several hundred feet. I particularly enjoy driving through these tunnels. We entered San Miguel and like all cities in Central America so far, it was very dirty. We found a hotel room and headed out for supper. We had a great meal with a wonderful cup of ...

... led the way and showed us where to go for the El Salvador Immigracion. He did not ask for money and I did not offer it as I don't want to perpetuate the problem for other tourist. I simply thanked him and shook his hand. He had a huge smile and said your welcome. It was very busy at immigracion as well, there was a HUGE sign in English and Spanish that said ALL services at this location are free and you do not have to pay ...

... hours we hadnt a clue what to do with ourselves. Fortunatly we picked up another and could sleep easy that night. The next day was a bit of a write off because Scott had was is affectionately known as the squits. it was just a 24-hour thing, luckily, so Tuesday we were back on the game. Claire took the opportunity on Monday to have her first ever pedicure. It was advertised as a pedicure and cocktail but when it came down to it, she decided to go for a beer instead. She thinks ...

... nestled high in the quasi-mountain. A church service carried on nearby, and the sermon echoed off the the cliffs. I dipped my hands and toes in, sat down and read my book for awhile, then returned to town..slightly dehydrated, but happy. I guess thats the "medicinal" effect of the waters of which said guidebook spoke. One of the things that was most beautiful here were the nightly thunderstorms. Around 8 ...